Post your editorials here. Remember the following suggestions:
1. Conversational in tone but polished in style.
2. 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person--your choice.
3. Include at least quotation from Beavan's memoir.
4. Mention that Beavan is coming to GPS on Thursday (you can say "tomorrow" in your piece).
5. Generally, your piece should either educate the community on why they should come hear him speak, reflect on your own experience with the book, or discuss what Beavan has taught you.
6. Word Limit is absolutely 700 words.
Be honest--and thoughtful.
Let's get published.
He Is Pointing a Finger - At Himself
ReplyDeleteWhen I first picked up Colin Beavan's Book, No Impact Man, I was certain that I would not like it. He was going to tell me to change my life and I highly doubted his ideas could be applied by real people to real life. However, at the beginning of the book he admits that he does not expect anyone to make "no impact"; he even admits that "no impact" is impossible. His goal is to make no net impact, which means compensating for his negative impact with positive impact, like cleaning the Hudson River. The more I read, the more positive I became about his book.
Beavan's tone made the book not only bearable but enjoyable. He is straightforward and funny, giving the statistics we need to know and the personal facts about the project that we want to know. The stories he tells about his wife, Michelle, and daughter, Isabella, make him human. Instead of looking at him like a marble statue on a pedestal, we see him as the imperfect New Yorker that he is. He admits that he has neither the "professional authority," nor the "moral authority" to write about trashing the environment. He guzzled Starbucks coffee in plastic cups, changed Isabella's plastic diaper about 4,000 times, and drove a car. He was a normal, emissions producing, trash making, elevator riding person like the rest of us. His honesty allowed me to connect with him, but his project gave him the credentials he needed for my respect.
As I continued reading, my connection with him grew from the trash I produce to identifying with the life lessons he finds during his project. Through stripping his life of as much technology as possible, he is able to see what most of us with our iPhones, facebook, and TV cannot. We have become so engrossed with our communication devices that we are distracted from the communication that really matters: the communication with the people we see and live with every day. How long do we spend at the computer vs. how long do we spend at the dinner table with our families? Maybe it is time we take a break from our high-speed technology and use an even faster form of communication: talking.
He also taught me that we cannot just talk about making a change. Individual action may not seem like it will have a big impact, but the more individuals who act, the bigger the impact we will have. You never know who your actions will inspire either. You could be the tipping domino that gets the whole nation moving. The best part about Beavan's book is that he does not expect you to move mountains; he just hopes that you will move yourself. His suggestions for eco-friendly living range from small steps for beginners to the next step for those ready to do more. For example, you can start by not using a straw with its paper wrapper in a restaurant, or you could buy local, organic food. Whatever you decide to do, just start.
I look forward to meeting Beavan this Thursday evening in an event open to the public at Girls Preparatory School. If you want to hear a man who has made an impact on the environment, the doors are open.
What Will My Impact Be?
ReplyDeleteEver wondered what it would be like to live without elevators, shampoo, or coffee? Well in 2007, Colin Beavan, a writer and self-proclaimed guilty liberal, attempted to do just that. He took on a project to live with no impact on the environment. This meant that he, along with his wife and baby daughter, would try their best to create no trash, cause no carbon dioxide emission, pour no toxins into the water, buy no new products, and eat only locally grown food for an entire year. After a year of his No Impact Project, Beavan wrote his book No Impact Man.
In his book, Beavan discusses how his attempt to save the planet led him to many discoveries about our way of life. Beavan’s honesty about his experiences during the No Impact Project is one of the most refreshing things about this book. He does not pretend to be better because of his no impact way of life; he is simply one man trying to live the changes he would like to see in the world and he tells his story in a way that encourages others to do the same.
According to Colin Beavan’s wife, Michelle, the No Impact Project allowed them to question how they had been taught to live. In No Impact Man, she said “What we’re really doing is taking apart our whole life. Instead of just living the way of life we’ve inherited and been told to lead, we’re taking it all apart and seeing how we want to put it back together” (154-155). So last week, after finishing the book, my English class and I attempted to take apart our own lives in a small way. We tackled a no impact project of our own. We ate food that was locally grown here in Chattanooga, carried our trash around with us, gave up cell phones, computers, and TV for a day in order to save energy, and shared our experiences and research with the rest of our school.
This time last month I had never even heard of the No Impact Project and now a lot of my thoughts and actions have changed because of Colin Beavan’s book. Since finishing No Impact Man, my consciousness about my own personal impact on the environment has been raised. I am now asking myself many questions that before I had never even considered. Questions about how I consume resources and the difference between real needs and wants.
Before reading the book, I thought that one person really couldn’t make a difference. Now, I realize that everyone can be part of the problem or part of the solution to our environmental issues. Come to Girls Preparatory School this Thursday to hear Colin Beavan speak and discover what part you might play.
He Has an Impact
ReplyDeleteA No Impact Man? That isn’t possible. By just breathing, we impact our planet. Those were the first thoughts to race through my mind as my senior English class began to discuss Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man. I dove into his book with a closed mind; even if he could live without an impact on the environment, I didn’t want to listen to Beavan rant and tell me how I should be more like him. No one likes to hear about the negative impact they are having on their world, especially when they’re being told to change.
But that’s not at all what Beavan did. He even mentions that he isn’t really a “No” Impact Man. He is able to recognize that, simply by living in New York City and taking care of his baby daughter, he will have to have impact on the Earth. However, he solves this by having no “net” impact, meaning that for every negative impact he has he will do something with a positive impact, such as volunteering his time or planting trees. This instantly impressed me, because I hadn’t expected someone to so openly recognize the faults in a project they dedicated a year of their life to.
Also, his goal is not to impress his lifestyle upon his readers. In fact, he states, "my intention with this book is not to advocate that, as a culture, we should all give up elevators, washing machines, and toilet paper. This is a book about a lifestyle experiment. (15)" Not once in reading this book did I ever feel as though Beavan was attempting to alter my views in order to make the world the way he would like it to be. His goal in this project was not to inspire other people to change. He did this because he felt he needed to do it for himself. He felt that he needed to do what he could to save what he is passionate about.
However, although his inspiration was unintentional, the inspiration he emits through this project is evident. I quickly found myself wanting to participate in some of the ways he has changed his life in order to create less of an impact. I know I couldn’t do everything he did for that year, such as not using transportation with emissions, or turning off all the heating, lighting, and air in my house. Honestly, I probably couldn’t last a week like that. But his family did for an entire year, even though his wife loved reality TV, their families lived far away, and Beavan’s workplace would then require him to conquer the many flights of stairs every day, because he would not allow himself to take the elevator. The sacrifices they endured for this project are inspirational, because they illustrate how passionate the Beavans were about it.
Through this inspiration, I now think every time I take a car ride just to go down the street, watch mindless TV, or even just use a napkin. And, honestly, when I feel that it is necessary, I sometimes still use that napkin. But at least I’m starting to think about it. If everyone was just aware and began to think about their impact every time they do or use something unnecessary, we could make a difference.
Beavan is just one man, yet he has made a difference in the world by simply inspiring others to want to make a difference too. So, although he may call himself “No Impact Man,” he does have an impact. He has impacted me. He has impacted my class. And I hope he will be able to impact those who choose to attend his speech this Thursday at Girls Preparatory School, because his impact upon others has the ability to end the negative impact we have on our world.
Saved by Zero?
ReplyDeleteWho wants to work for nothing? No Impact Man knows it’s not easy.
Colin Beavan, his wife Michelle, and their baby daughter Isabella made no impact on the planet from their New York City apartment in 2007. Beavan’s No Impact Plan came in four stages. The first stage, reducing trash, also led to a reduction of packaging and an understanding of what we throw out. Stage two, reduction of carbon emissions, meant that bicycles and legs were the only ways to go—no elevators, no subways, and no planes. Locally grown food was the third step; Beavan ate only food grown in a 250-mile radius. The last step was unplugging. Beavan flipped his apartment’s circuit breaker, shutting off all the lights. The unavoidable impacts, such as using elevators when stairs were prohibited, were cancelled through Beavan’s environmental community service through organizations like Sustainable South Bronx, which helps to grow trees on New York City streets. Through the plan and the service, Beavan’s net impact was zero for the year.
Beavan blogged daily about his experiences on his “No Impact Man” blog, which led to a book and a documentary of the same name. Beavan has also founded a non-profit organization, the No Impact Project, which inspires people to take steps to lower their impact.
Beavan says of his project, “When all was said and done at least I would have been able to change myself. At least if I couldn’t solve the problems, I’d be able to say that I had tried.” (17)
Chattanoogans have the opportunity to hear Colin Beavan speak on Thursday in the GPS Frierson Theater at 6:30. Whether you are going green or not, Beavan is sure to make you think.
Impact Man
ReplyDelete“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” This is not a quote by Colin Beavan; however, I would like to talk about how it relates to his book, No Impact Man. The point behind this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson is that it tells us that events in our lives are not as important as who we are.
Who is Colin Beavan? He is no impact man. He is a father, husband, son, writer, and, most importantly, a human being. Beavan spent one year making as little impact on the environment as possible. Many jokes were made that he went a year without toilet paper. Although this statement is true it wasn’t the main point of his book or his project. The main point of the project was to make no net impact on the world. There were 9 steps to this project, which include no carbon emissions (cars, planes, taxis), no trash (wrappers, tissues, diapers), and conservation of energy (No refrigerator, no stove, no lights). He wasn’t alone in his project—he had his wife and one year old daughter with him for the ride.
Beavan taught my senior English class and me a great deal about how to save the environment but the most interesting part about his book is his story not his project.
I took the Emerson quote literally when I read it. To me it means, events are not as important as how they affect us. No Impact Man tells us that wasting doesn’t only affect us emotionally (seeing garbage all over the ground and having no water source in 50 years), but it affects us physically. According to Beavan, “What goes into our sewer and septic systems must come out” (196). This quote means that when we flush chemicals, those chemicals end up in our drinking water. Beavan also says, “By 2050, after another 3 billion people have been added to the population, we will need an 80 percent increase in water supplies just to grow our food and feed ourselves” (193). My question is where is this water going to come from? I believe it goes without saying that without water we will die, but I feel like these numbers should scare America.
In his book, Beavan takes you on an emotional journey with him and his family through a project that society frowned upon. He faces emotional crises with his daughter and his past and readers get to see a side of “saving the environment” that newspapers and magazines don’t show, the human side. This book shows the struggles and the rewards of committing to a cause and following through. On Thursday, October 28, No Impact Man is coming to GPS to talk about his project and teach us how to make small adjustments in our lives to help save the environment. No Impact man has most definitely caused a positive impact on my school and on the world.
No-Impact Man Makes an Impact
ReplyDeleteNew York’s very own No Impact Man has done the farthest thing from making no impact on the students at Girls Preparatory School.
As a GPS senior, I, along with the rest of my English class, read Colin Beavan’s memoir No Impact Man that documents his year of living with his family in New York City making no net environmental impact on the earth. We decided to experiment with Beavan’s lifestyle by practicing a few of his rules he lived by. For example, eating locally on Monday, collecting all personal trash on Tuesday, and unplugging or turning off all electrical devices on Wednesday. We discussed our own experiences as No Impact women and found that what Beavan did was a true feat in today’s society.
Beavan’s trials of living life without electricity or toilet paper should be intriguing enough to attract a large audience this Thursday, but what many seniors at GPS have found is that they are more interested in his personal transformation that occurred during his year of No Impact.
Beavan’s memoir not only discusses the problems our planet is faced with, it also recounts his discovery of what really makes humans happy, truly happy. Beavan finds that material things only bring people temporary happiness, the shine wears off and the glory is gone. It is spending time with family and friends (not in front of the TV), making a home-cooked meal for loved ones and slowing down our rushed and hectic lives are what feeds the emptiness we feel when our I-pod dies or our clothes go out of style.
So at the end of our own “No Impact Women” week, we were given a day that didn’t focus on the planet, but instead on our happiness. We had to do things that made us happy. Some girls gave up time usually spent doing homework to help their mom cook dinner. Some turned off their cell phones to avoid that night’s gossip with a friend. I went on a bike ride with my dad. For me it was the most impactful day of the week. I realized that Beavan was on to something, something far more important that saving the polar bears, saving our sanity.
After reading No Impact Man, not only have I learned a lot about what I can do to save the planet, but also what I can do to save myself. Beavan doesn’t preach to live like he did, he only lived to the extreme for a year anyways, instead he exposes what life can be like if you take away the things that twenty first century people have come to depend on. I am excited to listen to the man who inspired me to challenge myself, to live a happier life by letting go of all material things, and to join the cause to help save our planet. Although I’m not letting go of toilet paper, I’m interested to find other ways to impact my community by making no impact at all.
The Super Hero Who Doesn’t Fly
ReplyDeleteNot every super hero wears a cape and red tights. In fact, Colin Beavan purposely doesn’t. To have red rights, red chemicals and dyes would have to be infused into the fibers; chemicals and dyes that may harm our environment. The red tights would fight everything that Colin Beavan fights to save. They would have fought his No Impact Project.
In 2007, Beavan implanted a lifestyle that most people wouldn’t dare to live. Living in an apartment in the heart of New York City with his wife and 1 year old daughter, he stepped out of his comfort zone in order to make zero impact on the environment. For a whole year, he lived without air conditioning, heat, and electricity, while also living in a way that would produce as little trash as possible. He bought his food from only local sources, used as little water as necessary, tried to purify the Hudson River, rode his bike to work among New York City traffic, and even eliminated toilet paper from his daily lifestyle. It wasn’t easy for him, or his family, but he continued to research ways in order to make his No Impact Project as beneficial as it could possibly be for himself and for our world. A true super hero, a true “No Impact Man.”
Now, Beavan is traveling the country to share his project and reflect on his novel No Impact Man. This Thursday, he will be coming to Girls Preparatory School to share his year long journey of no trash and electricity, and the whole community is invited to hear his amazing story. His project changed him, and his book has inspired myself, my peers and provoked numerous reactions throughout our country. Come and hear his inspirational tribute to our planet and other shocking things he has discovered along his journey.
In his book, No Impact Man, Colin says, “But before we turn our mind to it, we have to actually believe we can make a difference. That, by the way, is one of the most important results of the project: that I’ve come to believe that I can make a difference” (223).
So really, who needs red tights and a cape to try and save the world?
How to Save the Earth in 9 Steps
ReplyDeleteHaving zero environmental impact is hard and Colin Beavan and his family showed us just how hard it really is
Beavan adopted a daunting task in 2007: to make zero environmental impact. Lucky for us, we get to experience the entire process with him through his book (made entirely of recycled paper) No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. And we get a chance to hear him talk about it tomorrow evening at Girls Preparatory School.
They went slowly, taking the process a step at a time. First he decided to use no transportation that gave of carbon emissions (they live in New York so that means they couldn’t use cars, trains, or subways) and had to resort to walking up several flights of stairs and walking or riding a bike everywhere. Then he tried to make no trash and dealt with the dilemma of what to blow his nose on and having a toddler with disposable diaper (no water bottles or Starbucks throwaway cups). Then they tried to eat locally (within a 250 mile radius) and found that it made them healthier because they could eat only what was in season instead of stuff like take out, and store bought food from all over the world. Then they turned off their power and had to use candles if they wanted to sleep at night and actually went to sleep when it got dark out side (crazy, right?). Finally they tried to minimize their water use and their affect on water buy limiting their water use and using soap and cleaning products not damaging to the environment.
The entire No Impact process is summed up by Beavan’s wife, Michelle in chapter seven:
What were really doing is taking apart our whole life. Instead of just living the way of life we've inherited and been told to lead, we're taking it all apart and seeing how we want to put it back together. It's not that we'll never use it again. It's that we're doing this yearlong experiment in order to decide if we will. (154,155)
They went against the grain and were scoffed at and belittled for it. They said no to convention even when it wasn’t easy. Did they think they were going to save the world? No. They knew they were one man and his family against the world, but they knew they could at least try. And by trying they managed to garner enough interest to be on CBS News and Good Morning America, to be published, and for his year to be made into a documentary as well. And who knows? They might just be the next big leader, after all…
What difference can one person make? Well, absolutely none if that one person doesn't try to make a difference. But who among us knows how much we will influence the people around us? Which one of us knows which of is, by applying their talents and efforts to what they believe in, may not become a Martin Luther King, Jr., or a Bobby Kennedy or a Betty Friedan or a Nelson Mandela? (219)
Colin Beavan and his family might have been trying to have no impact on the environment, but they certainly had an impact on me.
A Year of Happiness
ReplyDeleteAu contraire to his heroic name, No Impact Man is just an ordinary human being. Well, ordinary minus the fact that he decided to live without making an impact on the planet for an entire year. In his book No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes about Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process, Colin Beavan makes sure you know that he is no hero: “It turns out that becoming No Impact Man does not mean running into a phone booth and coming out transformed into some sort of eco-hero…It doesn’t, in fact, feel heroic at all” (19). All humans are fallible, and so is the great No Impact Man.
He succumbs to societal temptations. He surrenders to the washing machine. Why? Well, after his daughter becomes violently ill, Beavan acknowledges that “there is a level of resource use below which people cannot and will not voluntarily go or stay in order to save the planet” (190). Beavan admits that for the majority of the human population, even those trying to save the planet like himself, no impact is not an achievable goal. We all make an impact on Earth, positive and negative, but it is a balance between the good and the bad that will save the planet. So he is not trying to convert you to what might be categorized as an “eco-freak,” but rather he is influencing you to make one positive change in your life. Perhaps rather than driving your car to work, you ride your bike. Or instead of turning on the lights during the day, you open the blinds. If we all make one positive adjustment, then we begin helping the planet.
The original goal of Beavan’s project was to create no net impact and see, after one year, what aspects of the project the Beavan family could commit to in their routine lives. However, as the year passed by, it was evident that the project became much more than an intricate plan to save the planet. It became an attempt to better Beavan’s life.
Beavan’s focus becomes happiness and how he can achieve joy through interactions with the world around him. Does buying stuff make him happy? Does TV? Does an iPod, an iPhone, a computer? No, none of this generates happiness because as he cuts consumerism out of his life, as he cuts electricity, elevators, trash, toxins, all the stuff out, he is still happy. It is reading a book by candlelight, playing charades with his friends, and spending time with his wife and daughter that make him happy.
This Thursday, the Chattanooga community has a chance to hear Colin Beavan discuss his year of no net impact on our planet. Not only do we get to learn about what it takes to be No Impact Man, but we also have the opportunity to learn about how Colin Beavan found happiness in a world of stuff. No, he is not a hero. He did not singlehandedly change the world, but he did influence others to live happier and more sustainable lives.
I think I’ll change my life today. Okay, maybe not. I can’t do it in one day. I can’t even do it in a week. But I might be able to do it in a year. This is exactly what Colin Beavan, author of No Impact Man, did. He spent a year trying to figure out how, by changing our lifestyles, we can live sustainably and try to extend our planet’s lifespan. He set out trying to change his habits just to make a point and see what would happen. Little did he know he would emerge from his project with a better understanding of life, family, and what’s truly important.
ReplyDelete“Who, by the way, gets to decide what the good life is? We do” (218). This quote from Beavan’s book captured me. In English class we spent a significant amount of time trying to nail down one concrete idea of what happiness is and how to have a good life. We discussed money, jobs, love, and stuff and I feel like we our thoughts kept re-connecting to each other like circles, much like the cycles we experience today. We run in circles throughout the day that we don’t even realize until we take a step back and examine them.
So how can we have a good life if we are stuck in these cycles? Break them. I realize that we can’t all be No Impact People but there are simple habits that can be altered to make us conscious. Our class was inspired by Beavan to try No Impact week. We tried to reduce our trash, use minimal electricity, and eat locally. Since these are not habits that have been instilled in us since our childhood, as Beavan’s daughter Isabella, it was difficult, but it was a great way to see that small things can do a lot of good.
I am jealous of Isabella. When she was a baby, her parents decided to change their lifestyles to be more sustainable. Because of this she will grow up with good No Impact habits. We always say that “children are the future.” Maybe by teaching them the benefits of living sustainably and living it out for them to see, they, like Isabella, will grow up with knowledge that they can do something positive and that all is not lost.
Beavan set out to make No Impact on the Earth, but he impacted me and my class in many ways. He taught me that the good life is always within reach and I am excited to hear what he has to say to Chattanooga this Thursday night at GPS.
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ReplyDeleteWhat if for one year your family biked everywhere, turned off the electricity and didn’t eat anything not grown locally? This is what Colin Beavan decided to do, change his lifestyle to create no net environmental impact, bringing his wife, two-year-old daughter, and dog along for the ride. In my English class, I recently read Beavan’s book about his experience of trying to create no impact. Inspired by his efforts in this year-long project, my classmates and I decided to try for one week to create less of an environmental impact. We chose themes from the book and designated a day which we would make changes related to each of the following: Food, trash, energy, happiness, education and water.
ReplyDeleteI learned several things during our no impact week.
1. Trash is easier to avoid than I previously thought. When I actually made an effort to not create trash, I didn’t. Most of the things I throw away on a daily basis can be recycled and things that can not, such as the Styrofoam bowl in my cafeteria, are either not necessary or have a reusable alternative.
2. I am addicted to technology. On the day which we tried not to use electronics unless absolutely necessary, without thinking I got on Facebook at least five times, turned on the TV twice, listened to music on my iPod and complained about how I wasn’t allowed to use my phone. Why do I feel like I need all of these objects anyway?
3. I don’t know what makes me happy. Throughout No Impact Man Beavan questions where real happiness comes from. He discusses a cycle of buying things to make ourselves happy but having to work harder to pay for them makes us unhappy so we buy more. Also, Beavan makes the excellent point “If pleasures we seek are not permanent, then how important are they?” (214) One day of the week was devoted to doing something that would make each of us happier without buying anything. Through this I discovered how little I know about what makes me happy. I can have short term happiness from making a good grade on a test or getting a compliment but what can give me happiness long term?
4. I can make a difference. Beavan is asked many times throughout his project how he, being just one person, can make a difference. Asking myself the same question I realized that he did make a difference. By trying to create no impact on the environment, Beavan created an impact on me. He impacted eighteen of my classmates. If all it took was his example to inspire nineteen people the change, we can inspire others to change and the idea will spread. One person can make a difference.
So here’s what I’m doing to change. I have started asking myself “Do I really need this?” before I get something I will end up throwing away. I have become more aware of my wastefulness and have been trying harder to prevent it. Each day I try to do something that will either make me or someone else a little bit happier. I will be going to hear Colin Beavan when he is at GPS tomorrow at 6:30 talking about his experiences and answering questions. The public is invited to come so bring your friends, you never know what kind of Impact it may have.
Environment’s Own Superhero
ReplyDeleteThe goal: save the planet. The topic: controversial. The measure: extreme.
Colin Beavan, the author of the book No Impact Man, set out on an adventure for one year in an attempt to save the planet. His aim was to make, by his own calculations, zero impact on the environment for 365 days while living in New York City. For what negative impact he couldn’t help, he worked with non-profit organizations to cancel it out. “Negative Impact + Positive Impact = No Net Impact” (15). Taking his family along for the ride, Beavan set up different stages to help them transition. From no garbage, to no public transportation, and eventually to no electricity, the year was a challenge to his young daughter and wife as well.
You would think that a book with the phrases “liberal” and “attempt to save the planet” on the cover would turn away as many Americans as it would engage - and controversial topics are discussed. The dangers of global warming, government action to reduce greenhouse gases, and attacks on consumerism are all fair game. But Beavan’s accounts of his one year adventure spark emotion in every reader, political affiliation aside. His smooth, honest writing style, clear statistics, and use of pathos all tie together cleverly to ignite something. Whether it’s guilt, anger, disagreement, or the desire to change, Beavan accomplishes what every writer should: passion.
In fact, as his year comes to an end, as the lights turn back on in his apartment and his family begins to use toilet paper again, Beavan’s reflections shift from the environment to life as a whole. He asks deep questions many try to avoid. “What is the purpose of our lives? What makes us happy and fulfilled? What difference can one person make?” (218-219). Suddenly, the focus changes. Yes, the trees are still important and landfills are still being closed at rapid rates, but now it’s not just the environment being reflected upon. It’s happiness, and purpose, and the unity of humans as well. Beavan’s reflections upon his life make you think about your own. He makes you stop at the end of a paragraph or a page and actually think. “I got too paralyzed by this question of whether I was the type of person who could make a difference…The real question is whether I’m the type of person who wants to try” (224).
When you think about somebody making no impact on the environment, many questions come to mind. What about the chemicals in laundry detergent? Packaging for food? Electricity for the oven? Using the fridge for cold milk? To find the solutions to these questions, you will have to come and hear Beavan talk in person on Thursday here in Chattanooga. But one promise can be made: if Beavan can make me think and feel, a Glenn Beck watching-gas guzzler driving-print it out four times-twenty minute shower-conservative girl, he’s bound to light some sort of fire in you.
Can you imagine a year without driving? Without TV? How about without plastic bottles? If you're anything like me, the answer is undoubtedly a "no." I couldn't even survive a year without Facebook! But do these things really make us happy? Or are they just "stuff" that we need in order to barely make it through the day? No Impact Man by Colin Beavan is a book that addresses these questions and many more. It is about a one-year adventure of a man (and his family) from New York City who was curious to see if it was possible to live without harming the environment. Colin Beavan writes how he wants to lead by example, because before one can preach on how others should live, he should first change his way of living. This year long experiment included no water bottles, no take-out food, no new products, no cars, no airplanes, no subways, no Starbucks, no TV, no meat, and the list goes on. Beavan, his wife, and his two-year old daughter attempt to live without making a net impact on the environment while living in the middle of New York City. Oh dear.
ReplyDeleteBefore I read No Impact Man, I thought that it was just going be another person yelling at us about how we all should be ashamed at ourselves for being so selfish and not caring enough about the environment. I was wrong. As I started to read the book, it was clear that the Beavan was solely performing an experiment. This was his project. He just wanted to see if it was actually possible to live happily and not harm the environment at the same time. This book has really made me think about where my trash goes. What happens to that plastic bottle as I absentmindedly throw it in the trash can? Where does the garbage truck take it? How long does it take to decompose? Does it just sit in a landfill for the next hundred years or so? In all, I have learned to stop thinking that it just disappears. The plastic bottle is still out there; it's just not in my hands anymore.
Colin Beavan (who is No Impact Man) will be coming to speak to Girls Preparatory School this Thursday, October 28th. My classmates and I are very excited to meet him and to ask him any questions that we may have. This is truly going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Why do we live in a society where 80% of the products produced are made to be used only once? Why is plastic, the most disposable container, a material that lasts virtually forever? Colin Beavan started his yearlong project wanting to keep his “side of the street clean” (110). This included cutting disposable products and plastic, along with electricity, food not grown locally, excess water, unnatural products, transportation emitting carbon, and waste from his daily life. As I began reading his story, I thought I would be unable to relate to his extremist approach of conserving the resources our earth has provided. I found myself to be highly mistaken. His overall message about saving the environment is blaringly clear and relatable. He says, “The real question is if I’m the type of person who wants to try” to save the environment (224).
ReplyDeleteI found myself reading the book believing that I, along with my classmates, could take some of the same actions as Bevan. As we tried to eat locally the first day, create no trash the next, use no electricity another, and educate people the last, I got a sense of what Beavan felt during his experiment. His story doesn’t hide his raw emotions of guilt, anger, and temptation, showing that it’s not perfection that matters, but rather the effort.
“Thousands and thousands of straws must weigh the camel down before the final on breaks its back. No one of these straws is more important than the other, not even the last one. It’s just the one that happens to get remembered” (219). Colin happens to be the remembered straw, but we all have the chance to help break the camel’s back. He will be talking at Girls Preparatory School on Thursday evening for anyone interested in hearing about his experiences.
Impacted
ReplyDeleteNo Impact Man. Sounds like a superhero’s name, right? Wrong. Colin Beavan, as No Impact Man, happens to be a regular human being just like you and me. Living in a one bedroom apartment in the heart of New York City, Beavan, along with his wife Michelle and one year old daughter Isabella, took on a year long project in an attempt to make no net impact on the environment. Beavan planned to balance out the negative impact he was forced to make on the environment by also creating a positive impact, like cleaning up the Hudson River or volunteering with local organizations. The mathematical equation for his project went something like this, “Negative Impact + Positive Impact = No Net Impact” (15). Beavan’s project consisted of several different phases and with each new phase their family would make less and less of an impact on the environment.
Now, if I’m being honest, I had only vaguely heard of Colin Beavan before reading being asked to read his book for my 12th grade English class. But, once I heard he would be coming to speak directly to my school, Girls Preparatory School, on Thursday evening, I had immediate interest in reading his book. My first emotion after beginning No Impact Man was curiosity. I began to wonder why Beavan would take on such a project and how the different phases would play out. But, as I read further into his book, I began to feel a combination of respect and guilt. I immediately began to respect Beavan for taking on a project this extreme and actually following through with it. The guilt came later. Beavan uses an honest, relatable tone in his writing, and he is never condemning, but I began to place guilt on myself. I go through a normal day, leaving the water on as I brush my teeth, throwing away unwanted paper, and using numerous plastic water bottles without a second thought. How could I be so mindlessly wasteful with these little things when Beavan is changing everything about the way he lived?
As a class, my peers and I decided to have a “No Impact Week” in order to prepare for Beavan’s visit. Our game plan consisted of 5 week days full of projects, inspired by Beavan. We decided on: Eating locally, creating no trash for a day, an energy day, a day in which we would educate the school, and a water day. With each new day came a new challenge. Out of every project we completed during this week, Energy Day had the greatest impact on me. As a class we decided Energy day would consist of: no cell phone use… all day, no television, unplugging every out of use appliance in our homes, and only using computers for school work. I am the world’s biggest procrastinator, so the hardest but most surprisingly, the most enjoyable part of Energy Day was not using a cell phone. By cutting out all use of my cell phone, I found I finished my homework around 10:00 p.m. instead of my usual 12:30 a.m. Each day of our No Impact Week taught me something different. Through Energy Day, I learned that not using my cell phone not only saved energy, but also saved my time.
Throughout Beavan’s book I learned that it’s the little things that bring you the greatest happiness. Our own No Impact Week, no matter how small our projects were, left me with a feeling of accomplishment from completing each phase and satisfaction from learning what I could do, as an individual, to help the environment. Overall, Beavan’s book taught me more than I ever expected, and I can’t wait for his visit tomorrow!
the hamster wheel’s still churning.
ReplyDeleteI’m no aspiring environmentalist. Yet I was excited when my English teacher decided we would be reading Colin Beavan’s “No Impact Man”. I hoped I could come out a “changed woman”, who says no to packaged food and instead joins a group dedicated to stopping global warming. The book did encompass many challenging views on our culture’s environmental issues, but delved so much deeper, challenging the reader to examine the components of his or her life. Why did we need so much stuff? Maybe we need to rearrange a little, or maybe simplify. But at the root of it all, what makes us happy?
“Environmentalism is not about the environment. It is about the people. It is about a vision for a better life—for people (203).” My English class had our own “no-impact-week”. We ate locally, monitored our water consumption, etc. Beavan’s no impact year of 2007 began with two primary intentions: reduce and not harm our planet. He gradually let go of the “necessities” (coffee, toilet paper, cars) until he had stripped his life to the core. He was forced to examine his life. No beating around the bush, and he soon realized how consumer oriented he had become. His family, whom he said was most important, was falling at the waist. Was he really “happy” with so much stuff, or did he work so hard for happiness that he could never really appreciate it? It seems we’re chasing our tails. “We need love because we’re working so hard so that we can buy stuff. We’re too busy for love because we’re working to get the stuff that the ads say will bring us love.” We’re running a circle; can we ever jump out of the flow?
So what is “happiness”? Who is truly happy? Beavan’s experiment—you could say has revoked the American dream. Get a good job, earn lots of money, have a family, and life will be swell. No way. How can you want more stuff, when you’re not satisfied with what you have now? To buy into our consumer society, you might as well jump on the hamster wheel and start running slow, cause you’re never getting off.
After our no impact week ended, I wasn’t a changed woman. I’ve merely rearranged my priorities, simplifying my life. To have per say, no impact is great, but as Beavan will say tomorrow, living eco-friendly should be enjoyable; something’s just may not be realistic. He gave in to the washing machine halfway through the project when he awoke one night to his daughter’s vomit stained sheets. And I know I could never live without cheezits. But it’s not about who does it best. It’s about being a citizen willing to try. To try to make a difference, and hoping the rest of the dominoes will continue to fall.